Man City and Southampton played out a dull first 45 minutes at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola’s men came into the contest on an unbeaten run of nine games, while knowing that a win could be huge for their Champions League qualification hopes as some of their rivals play each other over the weekend.
Paul Scholes was stunned when Gary Neville predicted a tight game between the two teams, and the Sky Sports pundit did not look so silly after the first half, as the game saw very few chances created with Man City seeming to lack urgency.
As a result, there were very few talking points, however, BBC pundit Rob Green believes Southampton should have been reduced to 10 men, as Lesley Ugochukwu should have picked up a second yellow.
Rob Green thinks referee should have sent off Lesley Ugochukwu
With 43 minutes on the clock, Ugochukwu picked up his first yellow card of the contest after bringing down Mateo Kovacic and only minutes later, the Southampton star would commit a second bookable offence.
The Chelsea loanee blocked Man City from trying to take a quick free-kick, which is an obvious yellow card in most games.
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, Green believes Ugochukwu should have received a second yellow card, stating that the referee made a huge error at St Mary’s.
“Lesley Ugochukwu should be off. It is a complete cop out [from the referee],” the former goalkeeper stated. “Bernardo Silva is remonstrating with the referee, saying ‘come on, what’s the craic?'”
Kevin De Bruyne and Silva seemed to hold discussions with the referee at half-time regarding the decision and it is easy to see how Southampton’s interim boss, Simon Rusk, felt about the incident as he took Ugochukwu off at half-time.
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Man City opponent escapes red card for the second game in a row
Man City fans will not be happy with the decision, as it is the second game in a row where they would have felt that an opposing player should have seen a red card.
Jamie Carragher believed Rayan Ait-Nouri should have been sent off during Man City’s win over Wolves last week after the defender committed a nasty foul on Silva at the Etihad.
The officials on the day felt there was not enough in the challenge to send the Wolves star off, but it might have been a bigger deal had City not gone on to secure all three points.
A second yellow card for Ugochukwu seemed an easy decision to make, which would have made life a lot easier for Man City in the second half against Southampton.
